Blueprint 3.9

"NO!" was Panacea's response to my question.

I shrugged. "Didn't think you'd been in a bank robbery before, it was more of a rhetorical question."

She shook her head, hand swinging out in negation. "No, I mean I'm not going to help you rob a bank!"

I stared at her in confusion, bringing the sound bubble back up. "I'm not asking for your help in robbing a bank, I'm asking for your help making sure the hostages are okay, specifically from the Wards. The Undersiders haven't hurt civilians, so have a vested interest in not letting them get hurt as it lessens the official response to them, but the Wards could justify it by blaming the villains if they're not careful."

"They wouldn't do that!" she shot back, standing up in anger.

"Shadow Stalker would in a heartbeat, but she's not coming. Kid Win though, is bringing an untested laser cannon, among other things, that could kill regular people, if he's not careful, and he's too excited about using his new tech to check his targets. If I don't help, a whole lot of bad things are gonna happen."

She glared at me. "How do you know that? What? Are you a Precog too?"

"No," I answered honestly. "I-" breaking off I wrapped a much tighter sound bubble around us, just in case there was something in the room itself that was listening in. "I got a pretty detailed look at what would happen if Break and I never came here. We both did. It's why I'm pressing so on hard on things instead of taking it slow, because we literally don't have time. I'm trying to save as many people as possible, and I refuse to do that 'I've been given a glimpse of the future, so now I'll let all these horrible things happen, so I'm prepared down the road' bullshit, which means I need to work hard and fast to derail as many horrible events as possible. I know a lot of personal things about a lot of people."

She went pale. "You mean you know. . ."

"About your love for your adopted sister, yeah. I also know why you feel that way, and it's something I both don't judge you for, and would have brought up gently, at a later date. but we've got, like, two minutes before everything goes to shit right now, so if you're not going to help, please just stay safe and out of the way." I started to turn towards the door.

"Wait," she said suddenly. "Is this why you wanted me here, to help you with this robbery? Is this all some plan to use me and make me a villain? Because from where I'm standing, you're not a hero!"

I facepalmed, frustration growling in the back of my throat as I swiveled back to face her. "Okay, last thing and then I'm heading out there, with or without you. One: if you'll engage your brain instead of your emotions you'll remember I wanted your help to get the bank account set up yesterday, and then earlier this morning because I didn't want you here for this. You are the one who specified the time. Yes that means I knew about it in advance, but if I'd told someone then my plan to take down the reclusive child murdering rapist supervillain wouldn't have worked. Two: I'm not asking for you to help with the robbery, just keep the heroes from accidentally killing people. And Three: I. Am. A. Hero. I don't go after law abiding citizens! I try and save those that need saving, not for praise but because it's the right goddamn thing to do! I don't nor do I have any desire to rape! I'm trying to make the world a better place, and even if I have to get my hands dirty to do so, I refuse to stain my soul like those dumbass 'Antiheroes'! Now I'm going to go out there, pretend to be a hostage, help manage things so that they're okay, and stop this from going as horribly as it originally did. Now, are you going to charge in there, accomplishing nothing other than putting yourself and the hostages at risk, hide here and stay safe, or help me protect those people!"

I dismissed the tighter bubble as I turned my back on her, ready to dodge if she lunged for me, and was at the door before she bit out. "Fine! I'll help you, but this isn't over! You need to explain yourself!"

I opened the door, nodding before I crouched and peered out. "Agreed. Now stay low and follow me."

"Your glasses!" she called, right as I was about to dismiss the second bubble. Looking back she tossed me my shades from where I'd left them on the desk. I slipped them on, nodded, and dropped the bubble, heading out.

As I left the room I knew that Taylor was here, what with the swarm of insects flying about the lobby. Taylor and Bitch were counting money while her dogs stood at the ready, monstrous things that looked more like fleshwarped tigers than anything canine. As her insects impacted me I took out my own Bug Control, co-opting them and keeping them from attacking. Taylor's presence in the power sang with nervousness, fear, and self-hate, though they all relaxed a bit as I integrated into her network, the tension eased from her as she felt my power nearby.

Tapping into the network I saw the back door was still open, and took a few cameras from my belt. Turning them on I grabbed some of her swarm, using it to take the cameras out and set up a view of the street outside, though aligning them with only bug vision to double check was iffy.

Seeing Panacea's look as she stared at my belt I whispered. "There's no evidence like video evidence. Just because I want the robbery to go off, doesn't mean I don't want justice." She stared at me hard, before slowly nodding. Now that I could feel Taylor working, I realized that without being able to feel the emotions of the person I was talking to, and vice versa, this entire 'hey, I have radically different ideas that you are used to, but I'm right' thing was much harder that I thought. The other hostages looked over at us as we crept closer, panic in their eyes, the person who had been helping us with the paperwork looking at us with hope. Getting over to them, I felt through my bug sense and yes, Taylor had still gone through with the Black Widow plan. I took control and moved them off the hostage's necks, putting a housefly in their place.

The hostages whimpered as they probably felt the spiders moving, but it couldn't be helped. I moved to use the bugs to tell them it was going to be okay, only to realize that, while I knew it was possible, I hadn't actually figured out how to do that yet.

Shit.

Thinking, I used my Acoustokinesis instead, linking my voice to their ears, adding in the sound of bugs to make something that should be close enough. "This is Vejovis, of the Penumbral Defenders, Independent Hero Team. The Wards are incoming, but I'm here to make sure everyone gets out of this unharmed. I also have insect control, and have taken over the insects on your necks. If you'll move back and away from the windows, Panacea and I will be able to better protect you."

The crowd stilled at first, before starting to murmur happily. "Please stay quiet," I told them with urgency. "If I'm revealed, it will make keeping everyone safe much harder. Thank you for keeping calm in this stressful situation."

The hostages quieted down, looking around. A couple pointed me out, and I tipped down my glasses, revealing the mask underneath. Waving them over I directed an area in the back corner. Panacea went to ask me something but was interrupted by the Undersiders striding out of the vault. I Saw them and Knew them. The man shrouded in darkness was obviously Grue, the flames of his power a Grey and Black mix just like Shadowstalker, but the patterns of the flames were all different, licking outwards instead of contained column. His power was another Dimensional Shift, just like hers, but while she shifted herself into that other place, he just brought it closer to him, causing sound, light, and energy in general to fade into that dimension, leaving matter behind. He walked up to the front of the bank, which I only then realized was a flickering wall of darkness, having been using Taylor's swarm to see. With his power physically manifesting in front of me I quickly copied it, moving on to the next person. The butch girl in the fake dog mask was obviously Bitch, empowered with Bodily Enhancement targeted towards Canines, and a Thinker power that gave her the ability to understand them. Her power was a rich Brown and Yellow, the flames appearing to be almost like fur or hair. I considered her power for a moment, but without the Thinker power, the Shaper power was almost useless. Next Regent, standing there, a few feet back, watching his teammates argue. His power was Bodily Control via Nervous System Manipulation, Porcelain flames slowly shifting around what looked like living tissue. I honestly had no clue if I even could copy that, he wasn't using it so I had nothing to latch onto to check, and the way his power appeared was slightly disturbing. Next. Looking over at the blond girl in purple and black, who's fire was a many tentacled thing, washing over everything she looked at. The Black and Purple incandescence burning brightly, but the flames seemed almost insubstantial. She had Pericognition. The ability to know around things, to fill in the gaps of knowledge. Definitely something I both couldn't copy, and wanted to stay the hell away from.

As I came out of my thoughts, I'd realized it'd taken me a bit to process it all. Listening in I could here Bitch growl "We have hostages. If they come in here, we take out one of them."

The hostages, as a group turned to look at me. "That's not going to happen," I told them, meeting Panacea's glare. "She's damaged, and expects to be treated that way by everyone else. It's why she needs help, and only if that doesn't work then jail."

Taylor, bless her, came back with. "We do that they'll be here immediately, and they'll be trying to kill us. Right now, they're not, so we need to keep them off guard, but not doing anything stupid. You're all about the getaway, right?" she asked, waiting for the Undersider's nods. "Then we change gears, we get in their face and fight them where they don't have time to think!"

Turning back to Panacea while trying to give Taylor a thumbs up over our shared bug sense. "See?" I whispered to her as the Undersiders grouped up to plan, not paying any attention to the hostages, making sure said hostages didn't hear us. "She's got it under control."

"Yes, she's got the bank robbery under control while acting like a psycho!" she hissed back.

I looked at her disapprovingly. "Okay, first of all, do you think all undercover cops are psychos as well, because she's doing pretty much the same thing. Sec-."

"Stop with that stupid undercover thing!" she interrupted. "It's not the same thing!"

I spread my hands. "Okay then. How?"

That confused her. "What?"

"You say it's different, I'm asking how?" I glanced over at the Undersiders. Grue was motioning towards us, but Taylor shook her head, her explanation causing Regent to nod.

Panacea rallied. "Well," she started. "Undercover cops are trained!"

"So are Doctors, do you have a medical degree? By that logic, all of New Wave should have had PRT training, let alone regular police training. Do they all have police training? If not, then why aren't you telling them how they shouldn't be doing the jobs of trained professionals. Next."

"Undercover cops have support!" she tried. I motioned towards myself. "Official support!" she clarified.

"I am officially registered as the head of the independent team known as the Penumbral Defenders. Lady Bug is a probationary member, officially, and like undercover cops is lying to the criminals she's infiltrating."

"That's not good enough!" she doubled down.

I just looked at her. Maybe this recruitment thing was a mistake I thought. I'd assumed she was smart enough to figure it out but for some reason she wasn't doing so. But why? She obviously doesn't have a good reason, or she'd have mentioned it, which leaves emotion shit. Lovely. Okay, with that theory what could it be. I stopped and looked at her, not with the expression of mild confusion and disdain I was wearing to show how I thought that her argument was self evidently wrong, but really just looked at her. She was in a sweatshirt and jeans, crouched down across from me. She was flush with anger, her gaze glaring at me, but with a twitch. Using Taylor's bugs I tried to figure out what she was looking at, but all that was there were the Undersiders. They were getting ready to head out, Grue explaining something while Taylor nodded, Panacea's eyes flicking towards her as she starting to pull bugs towards her. It's Taylor, but why?

If only I could feel Panacea's emotions this would be so much easier, but I had to guess. She was angry, but the exact type I couldn't really get a hold of. She had this entire moral high ground thing going, which was one of those things that really pissed me off, though that might be solely targeted towards me. Is it because Taylor's a hero, but is still doing something villainous, even in pursuit of a greater good? I knew that there were going to be people that wouldn't be able to mentally handle that, but I never expected Panacea to be one of them. Why would should she? I thought as she said "Well? Do you have anything better?" and again, the glance towards Taylor.

Wait, is she jealous? I almost wanted to facepalm over it. Of course she is! This was Panacea, who held herself to an impossible standard of heroism to prove she wasn't a villain, and Taylor was standing over there, someone I called a hero doing blatantly villainous things bold as brass. Context didn't matter to emotions, just that Taylor got to do things she couldn't and was being openly supported. Panacea worked herself into the ground to prove to her mother that she was a hero, probably in a desire born in childhood to get Brandish to love her, and she got nothing, while Taylor did everything Panacea stopped herself from doing it and got praised for it. "I-" I started, about to explain that she had no need to be jealous of Lady Bug, that I knew she was a hero, but reconsidered it, hearing Herb in my head shaking his head, saying 'too much too fast man'. I recollected my thoughts and responded, making sure to tamp down my first confrontation response so she had nothing to jump on, trusting that she wouldn't take the confrontation physical and risk the hostages.

"I am a member of a recognized independent hero team, just like dozens across this country. What I'm trying to do is something that has been done, successful, many times before. My actions aren't morally cut and dry, but anyone who thinks crimefighting is hasn't been doing it long." I felt Taylor send some of her swarm out the front door, Grue following it with his darkness, pouring off of him and out the door. "Every single criticism you have has been stated before, and been responded to in kind, but the fighting's about to start and we need to protect these people." Taylor stopped Bitch from going out, probably tell her about the costume switch. "Afterwards go look it up. If you have an honest argument I can't shoot down, I'll pull her from the Undersiders, but 'that's not good enough' isn't an argument, it's just a statement that you don't like mine, and isn't something I will use on your arguments either. Now I need you to go and help me corral the hostages to keep them out of the line of fire. Okay?"

She glared at me, eyes hard as she gave a single sharp nod. "This isn't over." She promised, turning and heading back to the hostages that had given us a bit of space as I dropped the bubble between us. Tattletale looked up from the computer she was working at, eyes narrowing as she scanned the hostages. I held my breath as she looked at me, and then promptly kept looking, shrugging before going back to her typing.

Grue yelled "we're sending out the Hostages!" before the majority of the swarm poured out the front doors, Grue, Regent, Bitch, and her dogs creeping out into the darkness.

I connected to the hostages, adding in a buzz "They've headed out, the fighting is going to start, let's head towards the back. Keep low and move slowly."

As the group moved past me, clustering against the back wall, I asked them if there was a meeting room in the back. One middle aged woman raised her hand and approached me when I waved her over. "It's just through the doors and down the hall," she whispered.

"Open the door quietly and take them there" I told her as the sound of high-tech gunfire, powers firing, and monstrous howling echoed from across the bank, oddly distorted by Grue's darkness. "Quickly now."

The door opened, and the hostages got themselves out with a minimum of pushing. I dropped a one-way sound bubble over the door, not allowing noises into the lobby. Following them out, I heard one person arguing "We could make a break for it!"

"Unless they choose that direction to run, in which case the battle will move to wherever you are," I responded, pitching my voice low, the crowd turning to look at me. "Let's get to the room, is this everyone?"

They filed in without a problem, which was a pleasant surprise, once they were in I stood in the doorway, addressing them. "Stay here and you should be fine. If-" The sound of something loud firing interrupted me, the sound of glass shattering and impacting stone immediately after. A deep roar echoed immediately afterwards. "If you stay out of the way you should avoid stray fire, like that."

"Shouldn't you be out there helping?" an older woman asked.

"I'm more concerned with keeping everyone safe than the glory of battle," I responded calmly, "Now Panacea and I-" I broke off, not seeing the recalcitrant healer. "Where's Panacea?"

"She went back inside," the woman I first met told me, pointing in the direction of the lobby.

"Of course she did," I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Stay here, I'm going to go make sure she's okay."

"What about us?" a young man asked.

I looked at him, my expression hard. "Panacea's a hero, and doing what she thinks is best, despite having powers that heal instead of hurt. I'm going to make sure that her heart doesn't outpace her head, and that she's okay. So, close the door an-" Another impact sounded, almost like someone had just blown open a wall. "Don't leave or I can't protect you. Keep it closed and stay safe. Gotta go."